A Green Harmony
Part 3
In a park not far from the store, Karin and a few of her friends were kicking a soccer ball around.
"I'm bored." announced Usaka.
"Yeah...me too." agreed Pinta, plunking himself down on the turf and picking at some dried mud stuck to his shoe.
"Well...aren't you guys just a load of laughs?" remarked Karin sarcastically, as she bounced the soccer ball from knee to knee. As she started to do other ball-juggling tricks to amuse herself, and the other kids got even more bored, Donny came running up to them.
"Hey guys!" he said excitedly, hiding his hands behind his back.
"Hey." was the unenthusiastic chorus he got in reply. His mood obviously wilted a little.
"I brought some candy for us to share..." he put out tentatively, slowly pulling two packages of hollow bait out from behind his back. The group immediately livened up.
"Awesome!" said Ryohei, pushing the others out of the way so that he was the first to stick out his hand for some.
"Hey! Let me have some!" wailed Pinta from the back of the knot. After everyone had gotten their handful, there was some contemplative chewing, each kid with their own connoisseurial expression on their faces.
"These don't taste very good." remarked Ryohei, "Oh well...let's play some more soccer!" and before the others could comment, he had knocked the ball out of Karin's hand, and was chasing it down the field towards one of the designated goals.
"Hey!" yelled the other three boys, taking off after him, but Karin stayed where she was, looking down contemplatively, her hand still raised as if holding the ball. "I..don't...feel too good..." she murmured.
"Karin?" called Pinta, just before the ball slammed her in the side of the head, sending her sailing to the ground. The boys gathered around her.
"Are you okay Karin?" asked Donny, all concern.
"I tried to warn you!" said Pinta, looking like he was worried about her getting up and giving him a beating.
"I missed," said Ryohei, pointing at the goal ten feet behind her, "I wasn't aiming for you." Karin managed to slowly pull herself off the ground, her head still spinning.
"Well you did a damn good job, aiming for me or no." She grumbled, rubbing her head. She froze as she looked up at the sky. She could see cracks forming in it. She started to shake as she remembered the last time she had seen the sky like this, the day that Chad had discovered his power, the day that she and Chad had teamed up together to defeat that hollow, which she could see and he could strike.
Meanwhile, one county over in Mashiba, Yuzu was out for a walk with Midoriku. As they walked, they shared a package of hollow bait. They seemed to be the only two kids who enjoyed the flavour.
"I think Karin's been acting strange again lately." stated Midoriku, watching a butterfly go past with a contemplative look on her face.
"She's just readjusting to Ichigo's new behaviour, that's all." said Princess Yuzu, happy to have a reason to defend her very own twin-sister dragon. They chatted on about Karin, about television and about boys, as young teenaged girls are bound to do, but as they talked, Midoriku found she was doing more and more of the talking. She slowly came to a halt.
"Are you alright Yuzu?" she asked, suddenly looking concerned.
"I-I-I don't know...," said Yuzu, gently putting a hand on her belly. She shook off the cloud that had come over her face and smiled, if a little weakly, "I think I must have eaten too many of those candies..."
"Want me to walk you home?" asked Midoriku, gently taking Yuzu's arm.
"No! No, that's alright Midoriku, I'd rather walk home by myself." Said Yuzu, trying to make the weak smile look reassuring.
"Okay..." replied Midoriku uncertainly, before shrugging and turning back the way they had come.
"I'M GETTING A SIGNAL!" Yelled Rukia, as soon as the beeper started going off. As soon as the words were out of her mouth, another point showed up on her cellphone, then another, and a few more still. Rukia's jaw dropped. Ichigo ran over and looked at the screen.
"Shit!" he yelled before starting to rummage in Rukia's backpack for Kon. Armonia glanced at the screen.
"We train and teach our kids to share...until we regret it." she muttered grimly, popping her own soul-replacement capsule out of a compartment in her bracelet.
"Idon'twannalook! Howmany? Nodon'ttellme! Toomany!" gibbered Midori, turning from right to left and back again as fast as she could repeatedly, looking nervous.
"STOP it!" hollered Armonia, smacking her across the face to bring her back to her senses. She looked over at Ichigo. "What are you doing?" she asked, as she saw him grab paper and a pen.
"Yeah Ichigo, what's the holdup?" asked Kon, ready as always to needle Ichigo on any point he could.
"Writing a note. Once you're in my body, take this note. Find Chad, Tatsuki, Uryu and Orihime and show them this note. Then bring them to us, wherever we are." he ordered hurriedly, before swallowing his soul candy.
"Blech!" said Kon, once he was in possession of Ichigo, "Didn't you brush your teeth this morning?"
"GO!" yelled Ichigo.
"Alright, I'm going, I'm going." Kon muttered, before taking off at a run that sent the heads of any regular person he passed spinning.
"I thought we may need the extra help." said Ichigo, as everyone else prepared themselves.
"Well thought." said Armonia, readjusting the buckle of the strap that held her Zanpukto on.
"I'm...I'm not feeling so good guys. I'll see you later." said Karin as, holding her head, she started to leave the field.
"Wait! Shouldn't one of us walk you home in case you pass out?" asked Donny, looking worried.
"No!" yelled Karin, a little too quickly, "No...I'll be fine."
"Okay..." said Pinta, scratching his head as she continued on her way.
"You think she's gonna be alright?" asked Usaka.
"I don't care. I'm going home." said Ryohei, stretching as he too made his way out of the park.
"You think we should follow her?" asked Donny, still obviously concerned.
"She'll kill us if she catches us but..." muttered Pinta.
"Let's go." said Usaka, and lead the way.
"Alright, Ichigo, Tessai and I will hit the ones in this county. Armonia, you take Midori and Ururu and hit the ones in Mashiba county. Kisuke, Jinta, you two stay here and scour this building for any more traces of hollow bait. When and if you find any, put them in a clearly marked box, and send them back to the Soul Society." Rukia looked around the circle and got nods of agreement from everyone...except for Jinta.
"AW COME ON! Why do I have to stay here while useless here," he paused to kick Ururu in the back, "gets to go?" he whined.
"Because you're an annoying little squirt, and you'll get in my way." growled Armonia behind him. "Besides. It was you who sold those kids the hollow bait in the first place." she added, smacking him upside the head. Then she turned to her gigai. "You, catch up with Kon. Send Chad and Tatsuki to us in Mashiba, send Orihime and Uryu to Rukia and Ichigo here."
"Hai." replied her gigai before obediently rushing off to fulfill her orders.
"Come on, honey." Armonia said to Ururu, swinging her onto her back before taking off across the rooftops, Midori on her heels.